Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau 1 UDB As Jacob and his family continued traveling, some angels came from God and met him. BSB BSB: Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 UDB When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's army camp!" So he named that place Mahanaim. BSB BSB: When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.
3 UDB Jacob told some men to go ahead of him to his older brother Esau, who was living in Seir, that is, the land of Edom. BSB BSB: Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4 UDB He told them, "This is what I want you to say to Esau: 'I, Jacob, am your servant and you are my master. I have been living with our uncle Laban, and I have stayed there until now. BSB BSB: He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now.
5 UDB I now own many cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and male and female slaves. Now I am sending this message to you, sir, hoping that you will be friendly toward me when I arrive.'" BSB BSB: I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6 UDB The messengers went and gave that message to Esau. When they returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your older brother Esau. He is coming to you, and four hundred men are coming with him." BSB BSB: When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”
7 UDB Jacob was very afraid and worried. So he divided the people who were with him into two groups. He also divided the sheep and goats, the cattle, and the camels, into two groups. BSB BSB: In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.
8 UDB He was thinking, "If Esau and his men come and attack us, perhaps one of the groups will be left and will be able to escape." BSB BSB: He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”
9 UDB Then Jacob prayed, "O Yahweh God, whom my grandfather Abraham worshiped and my father Isaac worships, you said to me, 'Go back to your own land and to your relatives, and I will cause good things to happen to you.' BSB BSB: Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’
10 UDB I am not worthy for you to have kept your covenant in so many faithful and trustworthy ways with me, your servant. I had only this walking stick with me when I crossed the Jordan River on my way to Haran, but now I am so wealthy that there are two large groups of my family and possessions. BSB BSB: I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
11 UDB So now I pray that you will rescue me from the power of my brother Esau because I am afraid that he and his men will come and attack and kill me and the children and their mothers. BSB BSB: Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.
12 UDB But do not forget that you have said, 'I will certainly enable you to prosper, and I will cause your descendants to be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, which are so many that no one can count them.'" BSB BSB: But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”
13 UDB Jacob slept in that place that night. The next morning he selected some animals to give to his brother Esau. BSB BSB: Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:
14 UDB He selected two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep and twenty male sheep, BSB BSB: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,
15 UDB thirty female camels and their offspring, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. BSB BSB: 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.
16 UDB He divided them into small herds, and put each herd into the care of one of his servants. He said to his servants, "Go ahead of me, one group at a time, and keep some space between each herd." BSB BSB: He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”
17 UDB He said to the servant who was going with the first group, "When my brother Esau meets you, he will ask you, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?' BSB BSB: He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’
18 UDB Tell him, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. He has sent them to you as a gift, sir. And he is coming behind us.'" BSB BSB: then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”
19 UDB He also said the same thing to the servants who were taking care of the second and third groups, and to the other herdsmen. He said to them, "When you meet Esau, I want you to say to him the same thing that I told the first servant. BSB BSB: He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him.
20 UDB Also be sure to say 'Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" Jacob told them to say that because he was thinking, "Perhaps these gifts that I am sending ahead of me will cause him to act peacefully toward me. Later, when I see him, perhaps he will act kindly toward me." BSB BSB: You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”
21 UDB So the men taking the gifts went ahead, but Jacob himself stayed in the camp that night. BSB BSB: So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God 22 UDB Some time during that night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven sons, and he sent them across the ford at the Jabbok River. BSB BSB: During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23 UDB After he sent all his people across the Jabbok River, then he also sent over everything he owned. BSB BSB: He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.
24 UDB So Jacob was left there alone. But a man came and wrestled with him until dawn. BSB BSB: So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
25 UDB When the man realized that he was not winning against Jacob, he struck Jacob's hip and caused the thigh bone to pull away from the hip socket. BSB BSB: When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled.
26 UDB Then the man said, "Let me go because it will soon be daylight." Jacob replied, "No, if you will not bless me, I will not let you go!" BSB BSB: Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 UDB The man said to him, "What is your name?" He replied, "Jacob." BSB BSB: “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.
28 UDB The man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will be Israel, which means 'he struggles with God,' because you have struggled with God and with people, and you have won." BSB BSB: Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”
29 UDB Jacob said, "Now, please tell me your name!" The man replied, "Why do you ask me what my name is?" But he blessed Jacob there. BSB BSB: And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.
30 UDB So Jacob named the place Peniel, which means "God's face," saying "I looked directly at God, but I did not die because of doing that." BSB BSB: So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 UDB The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of what had happened to his hip. BSB BSB: The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.
32 UDB The muscle on his hip joint had been injured. So to this present time, because of what happened to Jacob, the Israelite people do not eat the muscle that is attached to the socket of the hips of animals. BSB BSB: Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.